IT Pros have bad data practices

13:07 22nd October 2008

Employees are continuing to practice behaviours that put company data at risk, a survey by a leading communications firm has revealed.

The poll of 2,000 IT professionals, commissioned by Cisco, disclosed that many of the respondents admitted to a number of risky behaviours which could cause data leaks.

Specifically, the survey revealed that employees share sensitive data and corporate devices with non-employees; access unauthorised areas; alter security settings to bypass corporate policies; lose portable storage devices and leave devices unattended and unencrypted.

John Stewart, chief security officer at Cisco, urged employees to become increasingly mobile and collaborative.

He said: "To protect data effectively, we need to start understanding the risk characteristics of business and then base technology, policy, and awareness and education plans on those factors."

Earlier this week, PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested that a large number of UK firms are unaware of how important breaches of IT security are.